Lima Sekawan - Berkelana

Warning: the following entry contains coarse spoilers and due to its content it should not be read by anyone.

A caravan holiday! Nobby, the circus boy, and Pongo the chimp... War with Lou and Tiger Dan... Poisoned meat... The caravan moves... Tunnel to gold plate... Even Anne was sorry when it was all over.

The fifth book in the series and if I recall correctly, the only one depicting a gun on its cover. For a change, the children and dog are at the home of Julian, Dick, and Anne. They're in the middle of the summer holiday, which according to them always seems to crawl at first, only to pick up the pace and be over before they know it. That's totally how I always feel about a Jeffery Deaver's novel. In fact, I just returned one and am still trying to put the pieces together.

Sapta Siaga - Mencari Jejak

Warning: play that funky music, Spoiler.

A false trail laid by the rival Famous Five club leads the Secret Seven to a railway yard on a foggy November night -- and a real adventure!

Oh man, I tell you, I was so excited picking up this book again! Don't ask me why, I just was.

This fourth book in the series opens, as with many others, with Peter and Janet preparing food for a Secret Seven meeting. Their mom says, "But you've only just finished your breakfast!" Turns out each of them had two sausages. "You can't possibly want anything more yet."

Pasukan Mau Tahu - Misteri Pencuri Siluman

Warning: o come all ye spoilers.

Who is Mr Bigfeet? All the Five Find-Outers know is that he is a thief who seems able to slip in and out of houses without being seen -- yet he leaves the most enormous footprints! Once again it is a battle of wits between the young detectives and P.C. Goon. It is also a battle of disguises...

The story opens with Pip complaining about being in the fourth week of the summer holidays without a trace of a mystery. Imagine that -- what a torture! Well, the good news is that they have eight weeks of holidays; plenty of time left for a proper mystery, I say. Such spoiled kids -- eight weeks of doing nothing and you're complaining?! Get out!

Lima Sekawan - Rahasia Harta Karun

Warning: spoiler is a place on earth.

The back cover's gone, so can't tell you what teaser they put there.

This book was one of my favs in the Famous Five series and this time I recall why. I told you, of course.

Seems like all Famous Five books I pick up start with Anne and George receiving a letter at school. This time, it's from Julian. The boys get a few days off -- some nerds won a scholarship or something -- to coincide with the girls' half-term weekend. So, Julian asks his sis and cousin to join him and Dick "in a hike" -- the title says "on a hike" and the book says "in a hike"? Isn't English a confusing language!

Sapta Siaga - Rahasia Jejak Bundar

Warning, warning, warning: spoiler, spoiler, spoiler.

This is their second adventure, in which an exciting search for missing pearls leads the Secret Seven to a circus...

This book was one of my favs in the Secret Seven series, though I can't recall why. Then again, you don't always need a reason to love something or someone, do you? Ah, getting a bit philosophical, aren't we?

"The Secret Seven Society" is having its usual weekly meeting. Which shows that these kids manage their meetings better than people in my company, where you can have four different meetings in one day -- with the same set of people. Sorry. Peter and Janet are already inside their old shed, waiting for the other five. On the door are the letters SS, painted in green.

Pasukan Mau Tahu - Misteri Rumah Setan

Warning: still a spoiler.

Why does the banshee wail in Banshee Towers, that spooky place high on the hill? Of course the Five Find-Outers are determined to solve the mystery and set off in search of clues. It is all very exciting, but as usual also very funny, and you will thoroughly enjoy this mystery story.

Well, I don't know about thoroughly, but I do enjoy the book, some 20 years after I first read it, when it left almost no impression on me. This is the last book in the Five Find-Outers series and which a lot seem to think not too highly of.

Lima Sekawan - Rahasia di Pulau Kirrin

Warning: this entry here is definitely a spoiler.

Not the most exciting book in the Famous Five series by any means. If anything, it makes me wanna smack George in the head a few times throughout. Which, of course, is every writer's dream -- to make your readers feel strongly about your characters, in a good or bad way. So, good job, Enid.

The story opens with George and Anne at their boarding school. George has just received a letter from her mom and is furious about her dad wanting to spend some time on her Kirrin Island for some secret experiments. We are reminded that George is a girl trying hard to act like a boy, that her dad is a very famous scientist and "such a hot-tempered, impatient man," and that George is very fond of her island, where she, her three cousins, and Timmy have "had one or two amazing adventures."

The third and final list. Which, to me personally, is quite possibly one with the most memorable books.

The Barney 'R' Mysteries / Komplotan
Roger and Diana are the mandatory brother-sister in this series. Then there's Snubby, their orphaned cousin whose real name is Peter. Barney is the leader of the gang and a kid with lotsa talents, much like Fatty, but much less hateful. In fact, he was my second fav character after Snubby. Barney has a monkey named Miranda and Snubby has a dog called Loony / Sinting.

This series is of Lima Sekawan type, though the kids are older by a year or so. It is distinguishable nonetheless thanks to the development of the characters, most notably Barney. Also, the later stories make references to the earlier ones, unlike those of Lima Sekawan, which, save a few exceptions, are independent of one another. You could read Lima Sekawan books in any order and would not miss anything. With Komplotan, you'd be better off reading the books -- or at least the first five -- in their intended chronological order. I did.

K, here we go again. I have a feeling the list will be too long for just one entry, most likely I'll need two more. Gotta give it to Enid, the lady's output is beyond belief. Wiki says she regularly produced 10,000 words a day! Bear in mind that in Enid's day, no word processors with copy-paste function existed.

Imagine if blog had been around then.

The Five Find-Outers and Dog / Pasukan Mau Tahu
As a kid I had mixed feelings about this series. On the one hand, I thought the mysteries and the way they got solved weren't too bad. In the first few books, anyway. On the other hand, I wasn't crazy about how Fatty was described almost like a superkid, with lots of unbelievable talents. For the same reason, I didn't particularly care about S.T.O.P., either.

Owing to 80-an latest entry -- another good job, Q -- I started Wiki-ing and stumbling upon interesting websites such as this. I had expected some fond memories to return and I was right, no surprises there.

Yet, nothing had prepared me for the amount of emotions that flooded back along.

Back in the day, I didn't think that highly of Enid Blyton's books. Sure, they were good and excited a pre-teen like me, but after a while the recycled themes and maddening coincidences tired even this pre-teen. That was when I switched to Trio Detektif, the Blytons left collecting dust.